Medic Asks New Trial In Killing Of 3

January 15, 1985|By Michael Hirsley, Chicago Tribune.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Seeking a new trial for Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, a former Green Beret captain convicted of the 1970 murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters, an attorney contended Monday that a recently obtained murder confession is

``new evidence that would probably have changed the outcome of the trial.``

In rebuttal, one of the trial prosecutors said the confession is one of a half-dozen ``compulsive confessions`` by publicity-seekers that would implicate 22 people in the murder if taken seriously.

MacDonald, imprisoned in Bastrop, Tex., was the subject of ``Fatal Vision,`` a best-selling book that was dramatized on television last November.

Both accounts disputed MacDonald`s contention that he did not commit the murders. He repeatedly has said that drug-crazed hippies invaded his home, injuring him and slaughtering his family. His wife, Colette, was stabbed 21 times with an icepick. Also killed were their daughters, Kimberly, 5, and Kristen, 2.

ARGUING BEFORE Circuit Judge Franklin DuPree, who presided over MacDonald`s celebrated trial in 1979 and sentenced him to life in prison, defense attorney Brian O`Neill said the new confession becomes the third to support MacDonald`s version of what happened on the night of Feb. 17, 1970, when the murders occurred.

``We had a murder trial in which effectively no motive was established, with no eyewitnesses other than the defendant, no confessions and no admissions of guilt,`` O`Neill said. ``We now have three confessions to involvement in the crime.``

U.S. Atty. Brian Murtaugh, who helped prosecute MacDonald, argued against a new trial. He discounted the new confessions as part of a ``phenomenon of compulsive confessions`` by publicity-seeking ``jailbird braggadocios and aberrant mental patients.``

Murtaugh said the government was aware of half a dozen confessions naming different accomplices. ``With 6 confessions, you`ve got 22 people in the house,`` Murtaugh told DuPree.

O`NEILL INSISTED that the confession of Cathy Perry Williams of Jacksonville, Fla., obtained Nov. 17, supports MacDonald`s version and corroborates earlier confessions by two of her friends, Helena Stoeckly and Greg Mitchell.

The three, admitted drug-users, lived in Fayetteville, N.C., near the MacDonalds` home at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in 1970. Mitchell and Stoeckly, who recanted her confession at the time of the 1979 trial, have since died.

The confessions also establish a motive for the killings, O`Neill said. That motive, he said, was to punish MacDonald for not prescribing or providing drugs for users; MacDonald was a health officer on the base and had access to drugs.

``Are these three . . . so bizarre that they are repugnant to us?`` he asked rhetorically. ``The answer is yes. Because they are horrible, horrible people who exhibit horrible, horrible conduct, does this mean we cannot believe their confessions?

``This (conduct) lends credence to their confessions rather than detracts from it.``

MURTAUGH DESCRIBED the confessions as ravings of drug-addled personalities and cited inconsistencies in them, such as Williams` statement that two MacDonald boys were killed.

DuPree took the motions under consideration. Attorneys say a ruling might come within a month.

Attending the hearing were MacDonald`s sister, Mrs. Judy Alvey, who maintains his innocence; and Colette MacDonald`s stepfather, Alfred Kassab, who became convinced of MacDonald`s guilt and helped activate the prosecution of against him.